Official Report: search what was said in Parliament
The Official Report is a written record of public meetings of the Parliament and committees.
The Official Report search offers lots of different ways to find the information you’re looking for. The search is used as a professional tool by researchers and third-party organisations. It is also used by members of the public who may have less parliamentary awareness. This means it needs to provide the ability to run complex searches, and the ability to browse reports or perform a simple keyword search.
Searching by different views
The web version of the Official Report has three different views:
- Report: this is the whole Official Report for a particular meeting of a committee or Parliament
- Item of business: this is each individual agenda item in an Official Report. For example, Portfolio Questions would be the item of business in a Meeting of the Parliament report
- Contribution: this is each time someone has made a spoken contribution to a meeting.
Depending on the kind of search you want to do, one of these views will be the best option. The default view is to show the report for each meeting of Parliament or a committee. For a simple keyword search, the results will be shown by item of business.
Search by MSP
When you choose to search by a particular MSP, the results returned will show each spoken contribution in Parliament or a committee, ordered by date with the most recent contributions first. This will usually return a lot of results, but you can refine your search by keyword, date and/or by meeting (committee or Chamber business).
We’ve chosen to display the entirety of each MSP’s contribution in the search results. This is intended to reduce the number of times that users need to click into an actual report to get the information that they’re looking for, but in some cases it can lead to very short contributions (“Yes.”) or very long ones (Ministerial statements, for example.) We’ll keep this under review and get feedback from users on whether this approach best meets their needs.
Searching by keyword
There are two types of keyword search:
- A keyword search without quotation marks will look for every instance of each word used and rank the results by frequency and proximity. It will also include variants of the keywords using “porter stemming”. This is when the search looks for the “stem” of a word regardless of its ending. So, for example, a search for [salmon farm] will return each instance of “salmon” and each instance of “farm” as well as potentially including results for “farms”, “farmed” and “farming”.
- A keyword search with quotation marks will only return instances of that exact phrase used. So, for example, a search for “salmon farm” in quotation marks will only return instances of that exact phrase.
Combining search filters
If you select an MSP’s name from the dropdown menu, and add a phrase in quotation marks to the keyword field, then the search will return only examples of when the MSP said those exact words. You can further refine this search by adding a date range or selecting a particular committee or Meeting of the Parliament.
More complex keyword searches
It’s also possible to run basic Boolean searches. For example:
- a search for “salmon farm” AND “Loch Lomond” will return only results which include both exact phrases
- a search for “salmon farm” NOT “Loch Lomond” will return results for “salmon farm” but exclude results which also include “Loch Lomond”
- a search for “salmon farm” OR “Loch Lomond” will return all results for “salmon farm” and all results for “Loch Lomond” regardless of whether they appear together
Searching by date
There are two ways of searching by date.
You can either use the Start date and End date options to run a search across a particular date range. For example, you may know that a particular subject was discussed at some point in the last few weeks and choose a date range to reflect that.
Alternatively, you can use one of the pre-defined date ranges under “Select a time period”. These are:
- Current session (all Official Reports since the current sessions started)
- Last 6 months
- Last 12 months
- each of the previous sessions of Parliament. (Selecting the information icon above the “Select a time period” menu will give you the exact dates for each session.)
- All sessions
- You can also choose to select a custom date range, although adding a Start or End date will mean the search automatically defaults to this option.
If you search by an individual session, the list of MSPs and committees will automatically update to show only the MSPs and committees which were current during that session. For example, if you select Session 1 you will be show a list of MSPs and committees from Session 1.
If you add a custom date range which crosses more than one session of Parliament, the lists of MSPs and committees will update to show the information that was current at that time.
All Official Reports of meetings in the Debating Chamber of the Scottish Parliament.
All Official Reports of public meetings of committees.
Filter your results Hide all filters
Displaying 1929 contributions
|
Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid)
General Question Time
Meeting date: 26 May 2022
Paul O'Kane
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reported concerns by the Scottish division of the train drivers union, the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen, regarding proposals to make further cuts to ScotRail services. (S6O-01143)
Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid)
First Minister’s Question Time
Meeting date: 26 May 2022
Paul O'Kane
On Monday, Julie Lambeth, chair of the Scotland board of the Royal College of Nursing, said that fair pay is needed to stem an exodus of staff and retain younger nurses in our national health service. She also made it clear that, right now, the two priorities for dedicated nursing staff are pay and safe staffing.
Nursing and midwifery vacancies climbed by a shocking 170 per cent between 2020 and 2021, and I have heard at first hand from nurses who have made it clear that the current normalisation of staffing gaps is taking its toll on their mental and physical health. Those are some of the most dedicated and hard-working staff in our NHS, who are leaving the profession that they love, broken.
When will the Government get a grip and engage with the RCN on safe staffing, fair pay and the meaningful workforce planning that has been so desperately lacking?
Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid)
Portfolio Question Time
Meeting date: 25 May 2022
Paul O'Kane
Many people and organisations, including Labour members, have called for a social responsibility levy to tackle problems relating to alcohol and drug misuse, yet the powers in the Alcohol Etc (Scotland) Act 2010 have not been used in that way.
Last week, I met Alcohol Focus Scotland, which has called for more work to explore what can be done to ensure that money that is raised through initiatives such as minimum unit pricing can be spent not by the producers but on health interventions. What further action is the Government taking in that regard?
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Health Inequalities
Meeting date: 24 May 2022
Paul O'Kane
Good morning. We cannot escape Covid, because we have lived through two years of the pandemic. A lot of the submissions in response to our call for evidence reflected the Covid experience. In our informal evidence sessions over the past few days, a lot of the conversation has been dominated by the impact of Covid and the barriers that it has created to people improving their health.
What has been the biggest impact? We have obviously seen an impact on people’s physical health, such as their ability to get out and about and access healthcare and exercise. However, in addition, a number of policy initiatives that were designed to tackle health inequalities have been paused or deprioritised. Is it too early to say what the impact of those things have been? What has been the most serious impact?
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Health Inequalities
Meeting date: 24 May 2022
Paul O'Kane
Those were helpful points on the broader context. An important part of any Covid inquiry should be to look with laser focus at a lot of those issues and try to understand their impact.
Claire Stevens alluded to this already, but some unintended positives came out of the pandemic. That was probably about communities coming together in a way that they had not done before, and voluntary health organisations in particular stepping up. How do we measure that and protect it in the future? I think that we would want to see investment in the sorts of softer services that have made the difference for people.
Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid)
Topical Question Time
Meeting date: 24 May 2022
Paul O'Kane
The World Health Organization has highlighted the importance of tackling misinformation about the virus. Monkeypox has previously been most common in Africa, and recent UK cases have been more common among people who identify as gay or bisexual, and among men who have sex with men. However, there is no link to race or sexual orientation. I am sure that, like me, the cabinet secretary has been appalled by racist and homophobic assertions in the press and online regarding the virus.
Dr Derek Sloan, who is senior clinical lecturer in the school of medicine at the University of St Andrews and consultant in infectious diseases at NHS Fife, has written extremely well in The Courier today, busting myths about monkeypox and trying to ensure that
“health anxiety does not—even accidentally—fuel racist or homophobic discrimination.”
Does the cabinet secretary agree that we must do all that we can to tackle misinformation and discrimination? Will he outline how the Government plans to do that?
Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid)
Health and Social Care
Meeting date: 24 May 2022
Paul O'Kane
On that point, and given his commitment to doing so, when does the minister intend to remove charges for non-residential care? Does he accept that Labour’s plans have been costed and presented? They are based on £2.6 billion in Barnett consequentials between now and 2024-25. We have outlined that plan several times in this chamber.
Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid)
Health and Social Care
Meeting date: 24 May 2022
Paul O'Kane
I think that I am in my last minute.
Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid)
Topical Question Time
Meeting date: 24 May 2022
Paul O'Kane
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reports of an outbreak of the monkeypox virus in the United Kingdom, including a case in Scotland, what action it is taking to monitor transmission of the virus in Scotland and support people affected. (S6T-00732)
Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid)
Topical Question Time
Meeting date: 24 May 2022
Paul O'Kane
I highlight the comments of Dr Nick Phin, who is the director of public health science and medical director of Public Health Scotland, who has said that
“The overall risk to the general public is low.”
He has also said that “early identification and vaccination” can prevent close contacts from
“going on to develop the condition.”
Given the interest in tracing people who are travelling within the UK, and given the confirmed case in Scotland, will the cabinet secretary outline how any required contact tracing will be carried out and what role can be played by test and protect services, which were developed during the Covid-19 pandemic?
